Rejected and Auctioned off to the Demon King

Chapter Eight: Combat

“Nolan, when’s Stefan going to be here?” I asked while I laid next to him in our bed. “Today right?”

He nodded. “Yes, he’ll be back before dinner.”

“Did you go to training camps and stuff when you were his age?” My eyes followed the folds in the blanket. I looked at his bare chest then away. I worried about how Stefan was doing since he felt like a lot of pressure was put on him, Hopefully, he ended up doing just fine.

“Yes, it’s tradition. Kings need to be skilled in combat.” He closed his eyes. “I know he doesn’t love it but it’s not like he has to put up with it constantly.” So he did care about how Stefan felt.

“Did you enjoy it?” I thought maybe if Nolan enjoyed it then it Stefan might have been able to enjoy it too at some point during the last month.

“I don’t know. It was a responsibility not for fun and I realized that even then. Although I can say I did have fun moments, even if there weren’t many of them.” He opened his eyes. “When Stefan returns we’ll be able to spend time as a family.”

I smiled. “Yeah.” That is if Stefan wants me to be a part of his family, it was a nice thought.

Nolan frowned. “Are you okay?” He was able to tell my smile wasn’t completely genuine.

“I’m just thinking about how bored I’ve been getting. You’re going to go to work and I’m not sure what I’m going to do.” I pulled the blanket above my head. I didn't want to constantly bother Gwen and Wayne to hang out, plus they go to class or work.

He chuckled at my actions. “What do you want then? I can hire someone to teach you art or you can take up some other hobby.”

I shook my head feeling the blanket against my face. “I’m not passionate about any of that so it’ll just feel like busywork,” I said and the blanket muffled the sound of my voice.

Nolan pulled the blanket down off my face. “Are you trying to make me feel bad so I can allow you to train? I know that’s the only thing you want to do. I just don’t understand why. If you want to be able to protect yourself that badly I can allow you to learn combat but not magic nor to strengthen your psychic ability.”

“Okay…” I sighed. “That should do.”

He sat up and looked down at me. “That’s not enough for you is it? You don’t think learning combat is enough to help you protect yourself?” He actually wanted to know exactly how I felt about it before moving on.

I turned my back to him and buried my face in a pillow. “It’s enough to protect me that’s why I’m accepting but protecting myself wasn’t my main reason for wanting to strengthen my psychic ability and learn magic,” I admitted.

He sighed. “Do you mind sharing the real reason?”

I sat up and brought my knees to my chest. “My mother, she was a strong human psychic and powerful spell caster. She went around offering her talent to help those in need.” I started smiling a bit as I talked about her. “She moved to the magical realm when she was only 15 after running away from her home. Her family weren’t psychics and didn’t understand her. They thought she got her abilities from hades and did everything they could to pray her power away. Who she actually got her abilities from was the moon goddess after soaking in a lake under the rays of the moon. It was a gift.” Gods and Goddess were able to create species, link souls, bless people and give certain abilities or strength. “Once she got to the magical realm she wanted to help as many as she could. She also didn’t run from the order, she worked with them from time to time before they got so corrupt.” My mother was amazing and that’s why I looked up to her so much.

“You want to be like her?” He looked sad. “Your dream is to travel the magical realm helping others?” He was afraid of losing me. Nolan seemed so lonely the first two weeks I was here but since we’ve been spending time together he seems a lot less lonely.

I shook my head. “I don’t want to live the exact life my mother lived anymore. My new dream is to help my subjects with my psychic abilities and magic. I know it’s not a dream you approve of so there’s little chance of that happening.”

“You understand why I can’t right? It’s too risky. I turned down each one of the orders offers and they don’t plan on cooperating with me. They think among Demons you’ll become a threat to them and If that happens they’ll take you out themselves. Now they’re offering you a part-time position with them where you can stay here and work for them but as I said I turned that down too.”

“Why among Demons?” I asked.

“We demons are supernatural beings and your psychic abilities are supernatural. There are properties in our realm that feed us and make us stronger. Since you’re a psychic it’s doing the same for you. Here you could become the most powerful psychic alive. The order wants that power for itself. That’s why they’re not training as hard to recruit your sisters, the magical and human realms don’t have these same properties in their atmosphere.” He explained as he got up and got ready for the day.

“So it’s hopeless…” I got up and got ready. “Can you set up the combat training for today…?” Now I just needed something to get my mind off all of this.

“I’ll set it all up for you. Let’s go have breakfast first.”

“I’m not in the mood, no appetite…” I left without saying much else. I walked around the castle for a while thinking about the order. Why couldn’t they just leave me alone? After a while, a servant came to get me and escorted me to the training room. I looked around and saw Paula, I walked to her. “I’m ready. When will my instructor be here?”

“I’m already here,” Paula said and I noticed she was in more combat-friendly clothing than usual. “King Nolan asked for it to be me specifically to train you.”

“You’re good at fighting?” I asked confused. I thought she was just in charge of keeping everything in order around the castle and in charge of the other servants.

She shrugged. “I’m not the boss of the workers here and Nolan’s top adviser for no reason Mrs.” She got into a fighting stance. “Come see yourself.”

I threw a punch which she blocked and countered right away and as a result, I was laying on the floor. “Wow. Okay, teach me.” I got up and she started showing me different stances and techniques. We went on with just the basics for about an hour. After we took showers in the back of the gym. She was in the stall next to me. “Where did you learn to fight?” I asked. “I’m really impressed because you’re the best fighter I’ve ever gotten the pleasure to see fight.” My father used to take us to castles and places where we’d happen to spot people training and practicing.

“From my older brothers and sisters. We would roughhouse all the time as kids and when they got older they all became great fighters and trained me to be. We all went on to do different things with our skills.” She answered. “I started out as just a law enforcement officer. I kept getting promoted but somehow along the way I impressed King Nolan’s father and he hired me as a guard. I guess I kept impressing him and now King Nolan too because now I’m at the highest position I could be at in just my two hundreds.” She looked young, maybe thirty but demons did age a lot slower and lived a lot longer than humans.

“Wow. You must be proud of yourself.” You’d never know what people have accomplished or been through at first glance. “Do you think I could get that good?” That’s why I was glad I was getting to know the people around me.

We both got out of the shower stalls and got dressed. She turned to me and patted me on the head. “I think so.”

I smiled then we grabbed the clothes we wore before to put them in bags. “How old is Nolan?” If she was over two hundred I wondered how old my husband was.

“He’s young. Not even a hundred yet. He had to take over early when his father died by enemy attack.” She sighed. “He’s been ruling for the past twenty years and he’s been a great King.”

“And you’ve been around longer than that so you’ve known him most his life?” It was nice to hear more about Nolan through the people who knew him the best.

“Yes.” She smiled and we walked out of the back of the gym. “I was one of the first to train him. We spent a lot of time together as he grew up. Almost so much that I can consider him my own son.”

“Do you think I’m good for Nolan?” I wouldn't usually ask something like this but it’s been bothering me since the ball. “Should we be together? Your honest opinion please, I’m not going to get mad or complain to Nolan...”

She stopped walking and stared down at me for a little while. “I… I think you’re good for Nolan and you’d be a great Queen for this realm.” That made me happy, I didn’t need his mother's approval if I had Paula‘s. “But I don’t approve of your marriage because I don’t think King Nolan is good for you.” She said with a somber tone.

I looked away and continued walking and she did too. “Why not? Why does it seem like everyone feels the same way? Is it because he bought me a-“

“No.” She interrupted. “That’s not why.”

“Then it’s because of whatever happened to the last Queen?” The thing that no one around here ever wants to talk about.

She nodded. “Yes, but we really shouldn’t discuss it. The King cares about you but I don’t think he’s learned from his past marriage yet.”

“I understand… I’ll see you next week?”

“Let’s do this three times a week? Maybe Four?” She asked.

I nodded in agreement then went to eat lunch. After that I went looking for Wayne, I had to see if he felt the same way. “Wayne,” I said when I saw him leaving his room. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Yeah, as long as it’s quick. I have to get to class.” He chuckled.

I took a deep breath. “Well. Do you approve of my marriage with Nolan?”

Wayne looked away as soon as I asked. “It’s not really my place to have an opinion on whether you guys should be together or not…” He was holding back his true feelings about my marriage.

“Come on Wayne I know you have some sort of opinion on it whether it’s your place or not. It’s not like you’re crossing boundaries by telling me when I don’t want to hear it. I’m asking for your input.” I insisted. “Is it a good idea for me to be married to Nolan? Yes or no?”

He looked me in the eye. “No. I care about you Red. Nolan’s last marriage wasn’t super beneficial for his wife and you’re not super different than her in the ways that ruined their marriage but I’m saying too much. Nolan’s last marriage is for him to share with you, not me.” He was right about it not being his place to share the details of someone else’s marriage and I hated that he was right. Didn’t I deserve to know if it’s a reason I shouldn’t be with my husband? “I’ll call you later okay?”

I nodded and he walked away. All I knew now is that I had to find out what happened in Nolan’s last marriage.